Newport News

March 10, 2010|By By Peter Dujardin | 247-4749

NEWPORT NEWS — City officials confirmed this week that another employee at the Department of Juvenile Services has been placed on leave, as dual investigations continue into the department's spending practices.

Sabrina A. Berry, an administrative coordinator at Juvenile Services, was placed on paid administrative leave, city spokeswoman Kim Lee said. The city previously said it had put the department's assistant director, Peggy A. Howard, on paid leave.

Two investigations into the spending of city money at the agency — which runs a downtown jail for minors — are now under way. One of the inquiries, Lee said, is being conducted by the police department, while another is being conducted internally.

Berry and Howard were placed on paid leave in mid-February, about four months after police Capt. Dawn D. Barber, the department's North Precinct commander, took over as the agency's acting director.

In late October, Barber took the helm at Juvenile Services after the agency's director, Larry Robinson, deployed to Afghanistan as an Army reservist.

Howard, who began working for the city in 2001, earns a salary of $82,945, according to city records. Berry, who began working for the city in May 2007, makes $31,680.

No criminal charges have been filed in Newport News against either woman, said police spokesman Lou Thurston.

Howard's attorney, Shawn W. Overbey, said the investigation is not technically into his client, and he doesn't know why she was put on leave.